retiring to Tn. soon

Howdy everyone from Conecticut.The wife and myself will be retiring and moving down to your neck of the woods soon.I will no doubt have tons of questions since we have not settled on a specific area yet.How are the winters. Some snow/some warm days? Going to miss the Adirondacks terribly,I will post some photos in your out of state forum soon.We will want a large body of water nearby where we can dock the boat most of the time,covered marina would be nice.We love our bass,crappie and walleye.I did read you have good trout as well,we have great rivers here for trout as well as lakes.Want to take up catfishing as well. Hope this helps,we will look for hunting land property with a cabin maybe. Any advice would be great,thanks a heap.

[TNtransplant08]

Perhaps you may want to consider Dale Hollow Lake or Center Hill Lake. Both are surrounded by beautiful, hilly type terrain and have all of the species you mentioned. The Candy Fork river (for trout) and the cumberland river (for catfish) are not far. I have not fished either lakes myself but have heard good things about them. Dale Hollow is stocked with rainbow trout that grow to rather large size. As far as weather goes, I think the winters are rather mild with temps in the 30s and the occasional snowfall. You have lots of options, but these two pop in my mind. I'm sure there other members on here who have lived here longer who be of more help. Welcome and good luck!

Happy to have you become a resident of the great state of Tennessee!!

Not sure what area of the state you are looking at but Center Hill Lake about 60 miles east of Nashville is probably a good choice. It is a clear, fairly deep water reservoir which has largemouth,smallmouth, walleye, crappie and numerous other species.

There are several marinas where you can dock your boat and lots of real estate for sale.

Hope this helps a little.

[Travis C.]

If you go a little further east of Center Hill lake to Cookeville TN area you should find similiar demographics to Farmington.

That will put you near these 3 large bodies of water:

Center Hill Lake-has largemouth, smallmouth, (world class) spotted bass, great crappie fishery, catfish and (world class) walleye. In addition there is very nice trout fishery (rainbow,brown,brook) in the tailrace below the Dam.

Cordell Hull Lake-has largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass, crappie, sauger, walleye, catfish and (world class) striped bass in the lake and below the Dam probably only rivaled by your offshore fish up by you now.

Dale Hollow Lake- has largemouth, (world class and current world record) smallmouth, spotted bass, crappie, walleye and muskie. There is also trout both in the lake as well as in the tailrace (rainbow,brown,brook) below the Dam.

There are also lots of non lake options near that area. Everything from various rivers, creeks, small lakes with trout to rivers with monster 40" and up muskie.

In that area you are also roughly 80 miles from Nashville International airport. The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and other parts of the Blueridge/Appalachian Mountains are probably 120-160 miles away.

Weather wise....well one thing guaranteed is that it will change.

Maybe this will help for an idea of that area.
http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/Di...CSV&normals=on

[Buccaneer]

kkwwkk - You wouldn't be retiring from United Technologies; Pratt & Whitney, Carrier or Otis are you? I have spent many a day in Farmington, love that country up there. However now that I live in God's Country I have no desire to go anywhere else. If you long for the old Hartford Whalers, move close to Nashville and take in some Predators games. Old Hickory Lake, J. Percy Priest, Kentucky Lake, Pickwick Lake, Center Hill, Dale Hollow all inside of 2 hours from middle Tennessee. Go to www.realtracs.com for property searching in the Mid-State area.
Welcome to Tennessee ya crazy Yankee! You'll get along just fine.

Buc., not a employee at any of those places,self employed electrical contractor, did you ever fish the Farmington river? I live 5 minutes from it,duck/goose and trout fishing it`s all very good...guess I`ll miss that as well. As far as where we end up the recreational activities will play a huge part. My wife is the "damn yankee" ,I was born in Texas,living here since `86...I still park my car in the back, these people "paaahhhk it in the yaahhd" ...really,can`t wait to hear y`all instead of hey you. Thanks for the advice,our main thing is we`re getting tired of trailering/unloading/loading ,towing the boat(we own a 17 ft. deep v tracker) etc..When we get a bit bored with a body of water a "short " haul to another spot would be a plus.Huge issue we have up here ,extremely rude waterskiers and jet skiers,apparently if you are anchored on most bodies of water(fishing) up here ,you become a target not someone to give space to.Hopefully this is not prevalent down your way or better yet lakes with speed and horse power restrictions. Do y`all want me to post some pics from our annual Adirondack trip?15 years running,wedding anniversary,used to be a licensed guide up there as well.Killer smallmouth/largemouth and pike.Guessin` somene will enjoy that.

[SAMBOLIE]

Buccaneer, I sent you a pm.

[tnridgerunner]

One nice thing about our lakes here is that they don't freeze over, and some of the best fishing is in the spring, fall and winter when the joy riders are not out.
However, if a jet skier or water skier comes between you and the bank you are fishing, they may be harvested either with size 7 1/2 shot or smaller, or with a Bomber or musky jitterbug containing six treble hooks. There is no limit.
At least I have never heard of anyone being prosecuted for such harvests.

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by kkwwkk

....Guess I will require assistance with the picture insert deal,my fishing website" ctfish.com" has a browser link to insert pictures in a post,pretty simple considering a non comp. guy like me can handle it.

This site you can either attach using the paper clip icon uploading from a URL or Computer, place the imagine in the post by using the insert image icon (allowing a script may be asked) or what most may do is use a hosting site like Photobucket or similar them put image code into your post.

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by kkwwkk

Huge issue we have up here ,extremely rude waterskiers and jet skiers,apparently if you are anchored on most bodies of water(fishing) up here ,you become a target not someone to give space to.Hopefully this is not prevalent down your way or better yet lakes with speed and horse power restrictions.

You can find some places to get away from them but once they come out for summer......don't worry they'll find you. Luckily a lot of our lakes have a bunch of miles of shoreline so there is some room.

Originally Posted by kkwwkk

Do y`all want me to post some pics from our annual Adirondack trip?15 years running,wedding anniversary,used to be a licensed guide up there as well.Killer smallmouth/largemouth and pike.Guessin` somene will enjoy that.

I would like to see them either mountains, fish or moutains and fish. I grew up around the smokies so that is right up my alley. Are you a 46er?

I take it 46er you are referring to the number of peaks I `ve hit. Used to pack in with clients to some of the wilderness areas for wild "speckled trout" aka brookies. I tried to avoid those high peak areas like the plague, way to many boneheads getting lost or breaking ankles...there goes your fishing expedition,as a licensed guide I was required to provide first aid,directions etc. or potentially lose my license. In response to the picture issue this summers expedition is already on line at ctfisherman.com.( they went a pay site last year,15.00$ a year,guy who runs it ia very old friend) ,tried grabbing the url off the in line images and typing it in...no go.maybe I used to much of the info, where would I start at the http//: ,?,my apologies not my area of expertise. Other issue may be picture size although I did not get far enough to be prompted" file size to large.

Got a few more,that was easier than I thought.right click/save as .KWK-28564-IMG_1376.jpg

KWK-28566-IMG_1381.jpg

KWK-28598-IMG_1374.jpg

KWK-28599-IMG_1375.jpg

KWK-28604-IMG_1378.jpg

couple more.Yup,that did it. I`m pretty sure this rates as world class as well.On this particular day on Middle Saranac it was 85 degrees,no wind,not another boat in sight...by all rights we should not have done as well as we did....75 smallies between the two of us average btwn. 2 1/2 to 4 + lbs..The good Lord is my witness.

[Buccaneer]

Sambolie - Back at ya'.

[massman]

hello there former yanky here moved here in 2000 lots of good fishing down here and plenty of places to fish .some of the best lakes that i live near is old hickory and percy preist lake both have great fishing and and lots of places to put your boat . trout fishing is good but you need to go a little east and north in the state . good luck in finding a place